How Felicia Day pumped up to fight werewolves for Syfy

Felicia Day was eager to show off her raging new biceps from her latest action heroine role, playing a grown-up Little Red Riding Hood in the upcoming Syfy original movie Red, and she bragged about her muscles.

"I will tell you, I've got some guns on me," Day said in an exclusive interview Sunday in Los Angeles on the red carpet for the Streamy Awards. "I got to kick some people in the face again and carry around a gun. I've got to tell you, it's so much fun."

The star of the Web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and creator and star of The Guild is getting used to being an action heroine. Dr. Horrible creator Joss Whedon prepped her for female butt-kicking in episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse.

In Red, Day plays a descendent of the werewolf-hunting family from the classic fairy tale.

"It was actually a real flashback to Buffy, because we were flying around on wires and kicking people and shooting," Day said. "Well, not shooting, but stabbing. It was really fun. It's a pretty dramatic piece, so it was really fun to stretch that muscle and be a tough girl a little bit, kind of like the Dollhouse role that I did, but even tougher."

Day was also excited to revisit a classic fairy tale character as an adult. Red is part of Syfy's initiative to re-imagine classic fairy tales, and Red let Day put her educational background to use.

"I am a huge fairy tale lover," she said. "I actually wanted to get a folklore degree at one point during college. I'm kind of a nerd about fairy tales, so when I read that, I was like, 'Whoa, why didn't I think of that idea?' To be included randomly after I even thought that, I was like, 'This is fantastic. I'm so excited.'"

Day feels like she was destined to play Red Riding Hood. "I feel like the role is pretty perfect for me," she said, "It was four weeks, and it was fun."

This won't be the first picture you see of Day flexing her new physique. She's working on putting many more Red photos online. "If you see some publicity stills, I haven't looked at pictures I need to put online," she lamented. "It's ridiculous."